Excerpt from
gleanings in fire island
Map oF a SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL SANCTUARY
by Jacopo Ducato Ruggeri
ABSTRACT
Gleanings in Fire Island are the island strollological pearls strung together as asouvenir of the views along the boardwalk tessellating the island‘s surface. A partisan charter of its anthropized wilderness, product of the layering of nature, the anthropic, mobility on foot, and social rituals in the landscape.
This place is a live illustration of spartanism, dotted with homes in the artful form of camping. Minimal architecture reestablishes the prominence of landscape and public space over interiors. Life spills outwards into the gardens, forest pockets, and the boardwalk in the island’s car-free milieu, where strolling is a communal ritual.
Remarkably, this rustic environment, complete with ticks, wild deer, endangered butterflies, and weeds within a federal nature preserve, is an urban invention due to its proximity to New York City. Urban dwellers converge here to redefine notions of identity and acceptance. Fire Island holds a place in architectural history, thanks to Horace Gifford‘s homes whose seamless integration with the landscape enforced the latter’s role as a vehicle for social change.
This landscape provided a sanctuary where individuals, particularly gay men and women, could live openly without fear of persecution. Additionally, the island’s status as a natural preserve allows it to perform invaluable services as ecological laboratory.
Employing a phenomenological approach, this study is grounded in on-site observations mapping key sections of the boardwalk and forest pockets, such as the infamous Meat Rack, backdrop to the acclaimed Boys in the Sand and the 1965 police raid that ensnared even Gifford, the Bo- naguidi house, also by Gifford, and the tree cemetery above Carrington House, echoed in the fernery at the corner of Bay Walk and Lone Hill Walk, and more. As both an observer and a member of the community that sees Fire Island as a holiday refuge, my perspective is deeply informed by the intimate rituals that shape our shared experiences.
Section of the boardwalk through the Sunken Forest, where American holly and sassafras dominate the tree canopy.
The Tree House, designed by Horace Gifford for Lawrence Bonaguidi in the late ‘60s, is now framed by tall hollies, black cherries, and red oaks.
Oaks lean over a thin sand path before yielding to holly cover, on the dune ridge behind Carrington House; on the left, those lost to the island’s harsh conditions.
This trampled sand clearing, a popular Meat Rack spot, is ringed with salt-tolerant scrub on a high dune, its plank bench offering a hidden vantage of secrecy and view.